Undoubtedly, you are probably somewhere on campus right now, reading this article with people milling around you; forcing your way through masses of people in front of Arts 121, standing in line at Tim’s, crossing the bowl or just trying to get to and from class, there are nearly 20,000 of us who set foot in our fine university every year.
You see engineers processing equations most of us wouldn’t be able to distinguish from a foreign language, agriculture students discussing the importance of edaphology (and yes, I definitely wiki’d that one), our commerce men and women hammering their way out of the recession, arts pulling the best of our past and applying it to our present, the health sciences all working in tandem to ensure our wellness in the future and education buried off in the corner of campus to prepare for leading the students of tomorrow.
So what is the constant among us? What is one thing we are exposed to, without fail, every single day?
Food. The wonderful, tasty, wholesome, crispy, spicy, tangy, cool, chewy, hot, nutritious, satisfying, and delicious foods we enjoy day in and day out. March is Nutrition Month in Canada.
Right now you are probably seeing someone pouring back a coffee, tearing into a sandwich, or savouring a homemade snack to keep them going between classes (and it very well may be you). Considering everyone knows precisely what foods they enjoy, we know comparatively little about where and how it is raised or grown, harvested, produced or processed.
Nutrition Month aims to increase awareness of issues around food and food production. Buzz words like “organic” and “local” food are ramping up with minimal evidence-based information coming with it.
When the big players, such as Wal-Mart (love them or hate them), start to push organics it becomes important to understand the rationale for and against as it becomes more mainstream. Ask yourself, what do you know about organic foods? The information provided for us is varied at best.
For instance, you may only know the organic bananas cost more at the grocery store than the “regular” bananas (unless of course you take yourself through the self check out and “forget” which ones you selected, but we won’t go into that right now).
In any event, registered dieticians are an excellent resource for information regarding all your questions surrounding food. An RD can address any nutrition related questions you may have.
As a final note, look for the Nutrition Month booth that will be on campus every Wednesday in March between 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. It will showcase local food and draws to win gift certificates and prizes to local restaurants such as Weczeria and The Park Café.
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photo: Flickr / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0